Consultants paid £1.6m in a month for Brexit planning

More than a dozen Brexit-related contracts have been signed that could cost the taxpayer up to £40 millionNIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

American companies were among consultancies paid more than £1.5 million last month to advise officials drawing up plans to implement Brexit.

Figures released by the Cabinet Office reveal the extent of spending on project management fees by the teams co-ordinating the government’s response to leaving the EU.

It comes on top of multimillion-pound contracts that have been signed by other government departments to provide programmes such as the registration of EU citizens in Britain and a new border customs system.

Under the heading “central EU exit consultancy” Cabinet Office figures show that two big American consultancies were paid over £750,000 over three separate contract payments. Boston Consulting received two payments of £158,240 and £169,440 while Bain & Company received one payment of £450,400. EY and…

Want to read more?

Subscribe now and get unlimited digital access on web and our smartphone and tablet apps, free for your first month.